Singing | Ann Downey | All Levels | Period 2 | Week 2 (July 14-19, 2024)
I will touch on and teach some great old songs as many as will fit in and take our fancy. These start from authentic early cowboy songs to the popular novelty and movie cowboy era of the 1930s and 40s. Expect to learn songs from Allen McCandless and George Fehr to The Sons of the Pioneers, Patsy Montana, Cole Porter and Johnny Mercer.
And that singing technique called yodeling, which is almost as good as that first coffee. We’ll explore basic yodeling techniques including finding the voice break, the best keys for your range, and tuning the leap. There will be demos and listening, but mostly, full laryngeal participation on the yodels in some of the above cowboy songs, and maybe a train song or two.
Bring voices and enthusiasm, and be ready to make some musical noise. Discussion and laughs are encouraged.
About the Instructor
Ann Downey sings and plays upright bass, clawhammer banjo, and guitar and sits in comfortably with old time Appalachian, cowboy, country, swing (country and jazz), bluegrass, Celtic, and klezmer music. She enjoys wacky songs, yodeling and especially exploring and singing harmonies. She grew up listening to her parents sing in harmony in the car during their many moves, and upon arrival was promptly plugged into the local Methodist church choir before they even unpacked. Ann’s roots are in the southwestern U.S, and she has lived and played around Europe and North America, and is now well settled in Ottawa, Canada. She has sung, played, traveled and recorded with Finest Kind (now retired), Sneezy Waters, the Toasted Westerns, Tony Turner, and Shirt-Tearing Boys among many others. She’s also regularly on call to play bass and sing harmony vocals on folk related projects in the studio and on stage. Ann has taught cowboy songs, harmony vocals and yodeling at festivals and music camps (including Augusta), and currently teaches clawhammer banjo at Alcorn Music Studios in Ottawa.